Gamelan Sekar Jaya

Last night I watched a performance by Gamelan Sekar Jaya at The Noe Valley Ministry Music Series. The setting was a little odd, listening to Balinese music in the second floor of a 110 year old Victorian chruch qualifies for one of those only in San Francisco events.

The performance was really good. Balinese style gamelan is very energetic, it has that shimmering tonal quality that in high school band, learned that something is out of tune.
To the fans Balinese Gamelan this shimmering sound is essential.

It was a great weekend to hear the very different gamelan styles of Balinese Anglung and Central Javanese Court Gamelan.

San Francisco International Film Festival

I saw the movie Opera Jawa, a film that is partof the SFFF.
The movie was show at the beautiful and historic Castro Theatre.

The movie is based on the epic Ramayana.
Javanese culture is passionate about this story.
There is nearly no dialog in the movie, the few words spoken are in Bahasa Indonesia & Javanese. Strong visual elements somewhat distracted me from reading the subtitles.
The movie is visually stunning. The soundtrack filled with Central Javanese Court Gamelan is also very good.

This is going to be one of my favorite movies and I would love to see it again.
Next time I will have the luxury of reading the subtitles.

At the conclusion choreographer, Eko Supriyanto had a 15 minute Q&A.